The challenge of hard-scrabble daily life in Myanmar

During my trip, I met a young man from Rakhine State in the city. Let’s call him “R”.  

In his hometown, which has been plagued by communal violence, R had managed to get a job with an international organisation. With only basic education, he worked hard to learn English. But after two years, the international organisation’s mission came to an end and R was once again unemployed.

Like many in Thailand who find there are no jobs at home, he headed to the big city in search of a brighter future.

In central Yangon, he found a job that allows him to meet and chat with foreigners. Yet, the high rent downtown means he can only afford an apartment in the suburbs. And that means a one-hour bus ride to work each day followed by the same to get back home. 

But on the bus, he gets to practise his English. 

He has high hopes that, once fluent enough, he can get a better job that doesn’t require him to work from 5pm to 7am, six nights a week.

Yet though his life is tough, at least his workplace is air-conditioned.

Many others in Yangon, with a population of more than 5 million, work under the hot sun. And many earn less than 3,600 kyat a day (Bt102), the official minimum wage.  

That might help explain why there are so many street-food stalls offering local dishes for less than 1,000 kyat, and why they are so crowded at lunch and supper time.

Those who earn more than the minimum wage tend to hunt elsewhere for their food. A biryani shop on a road near the spectacular downtown Sule Pagoda does a roaring trade in mutton rice at 2,700 kyat per dish.

Those locals who can afford it join the tourists at the air-con luxury of places like KFC, where lunchtime queues build outside the two-floor restaurant every day. Here, a set of two fried-chicken drumsticks plus a small coke and French fries costs 3,600 kyat – equivalent to the daily wage of many.

Many foreign visitors prefer to eat at their hotels. At the Shangri-La Yangon, behind the Sule Pagoda, a single dish can set you back 5,000 kyat.

 Then there are the fancy restaurants where wealthy locals and foreigners chow down on imported beef at 10,000 kyat per 100g. A meal for four here can cost 150,000 kyat – about Bt4,000.

A fine-dining desert just a few years ago, Yangon now boasts plenty of eateries to keep foreign and moneyed taste-buds titillated –  including a Thai-style som-tam restaurant. The number of choices is suddenly so huge that you wonder what locals must think.

While the culinary scene is rising, the same can’t be said for other aspects of city life. A poor drainage system means residents and visitors brace for flash flooding whenever the rain lasts for more than a few minutes.

Another inevitability is crowded buses at rush hour. Taxis are only really affordable for those who can speak English fluently and thereby find a job that pays over US$1,000 a month.

 Meanwhile the life of a pedestrian is precarious As in Bangkok, they rarely use pedestrian flyover bridges, but in Yangon that’s because such overhead crossings are few and far between. The similarities with Bangkok don’t end there: Drivers seldom pay much attention to pedestrians, speeding even when people are crossing the road ahead. I spotted a middle-aged woman exit a taxi at a red light then dodge like a scared chicken through a barrage of vehicles to get to the pavement.

Foreign visitors shouldn’t be put off, though. Foreign-funded clinics have sprung up specifically to cater for them – though at a price, of course.

What will it take to improve the quality of daily life in Myanmar?

For R, his hometown state of Rakhine urgently needs new development policies and bigger budgets. More infrastructure and higher incomes would attract new investment upcountry. That would create jobs and discourage people like him from looking for better opportunities elsewhere.

Without such initiatives, Yangon’s infrastructure could be overwhelmed by migrants in search of a better future.

Yet even the residents of the country’s largest commercial city are not guaranteed of better services, which tells you a lot about the prospects of those who live in remote areas.

Theses are the challenges awaiting the newly elected National League for Democracy (NLD). The party’s landslide victory just over a week ago triggered enormous hope for a people that has suffered military rule for more than two decades. Yet for the NLD, with power comes enormous popular expectation.

Four days after the election, a friend of mine flashed his still ink-stained finger, proudly exclaiming “NLD”. Obviously, he firmly believes the party will lead the country to a better future. No doubt he is praying Myanmar will become more attractive to foreign investors, which would improve his prospects of getting a better job. Right now, he works six days a week for unsatisfactory pay.

Another Yangon resident shared similar hopes. Yet, his fluent English has inspired plans to find a job in Bangkok.

Myanmar already faces a serious shortage of skilled labour. As the country opens its borders for citizens and visitors alike, it risks an exodus of skilled labour and an uncertain future unless the living conditions of the majority improve significantly and quickly.